July 2013

It's been a couple of months since our last newsletter, and we have a few new things we'd like to go over! For those of you that actively monitor our twitter and facebook feeds, some of these things may not be new for you, but you could possibly learn some additional details about them that you didn't know before. :)

Sales Tax Changes for UT & WA

Beginning Wednesday, July 17th, sales tax for all storefront purchases going to either Utah or Washington will be calculated, charged, and paid to the taxing authorities by Instaproofs directly. This will not result in a change for your clients (they will still pay the same sales tax), but it will result in some changes for you if you normally have orders going to either of these states. Here is what you can expect:

Orders with a shipping address to either UT or WA will be charged sales tax, regardless of the preferences setup on your account.

The sales tax amount for these orders will be displayed on the order details screen and on the printable invoice PDFs, but it will not be included in the summary reports or on your standard order/activity lists.

The sales tax amount for these orders will not be paid out to you since we will be paying it directly to the taxing authorities ourselves.

Invoices (created through the Events tab) are not affected by this change, and you are still responsible for charging, collecting, and remitting the correct sales tax amounts for these transactions.

*Important* If your client uses a fixed-amount discount code (as opposed to a percentage-based code), and the discount code is used to pay for any of the sales tax on their order, your Instaproofs account will be charged for the sales tax paid for with the discount code. To avoid this situation, starting July 17th there will be a new option available on the discount code details screen, labeled “Allow this discount to pay for sales tax?”; simply uncheck that box and your clients will not be able to pay for their sales tax with the discount code.

Service Agreement Update

Our service agreement has been updated! The first time you login on, or after, July 17th you will be prompted to agree to the new service agreement terms. Here are a few Questions and Answers about the update:

Q: Why is the service agreement being updated?
A: The primary reason for the update is because of the changes to how we are going to be handling sales tax for Utah and Washington orders.

Q: Are there any changes to the account service fees?
A: No, the fees for our services have been left unchanged. The only item that may result in an additional out-of-pocket expense for you is the change in the way that sales tax is collected for fixed-amount discount codes used on orders being shipped to either Utah or Washington.

Q: When will the changes go into effect?
A: All changes will go into effect on the morning of July 17th, 2013.

Q: Was anything else changed that might affect the way I use my account?
A: No, we do not believe so.

Q: Should I read through the new service agreement?
A: Yes. By using our service you are agreeing to the terms found within the service agreement, so it would be good for you to know what it is that you are agreeing to.

Automatic Fulfillment *Optional*

We are now offering an automatic fulfillment service for photographers in the USA with an active high-resolution subscription. Once you have signed up for the service, automatic fulfillment is available for orders that meet the following requirements:

Your Instaproofs balance must be high enough to cover the fulfillment costs.

The ordered images must have been previously uploaded in high resolution.

The order must contain only print sizes that we currently offer (no products, albums, services, etc.).

The order cannot contain any multi-image products or multi-size print sets.

The order must be shipped to a US address.

There is no fee for the use of this service. You simply pay the standard fulfillment costs for each order, and nothing more. Our current print/fulfillment prices can be found here: fulfillment prices

To enable automatic fulfillment for your account, go into the “Fulfillment” tab and switch the “enable auto-fulfillment” option to “Yes.” To see the automatic fulfillment option, you must first complete the steps listed on that same page for using our fulfillment services. For additional information on our automatic fulfillment service, please see here: automatic fulfillment FAQ

Beautified Email Templates

As you may have noticed in the past, our basic email templates have always been fairly boring. In fact, most people would probably agree that they desperately needed some sprucing up! Well, we have listened to your suggestions and we are happy to announce that the new default email templates are complete and they are ready for you to use on your accounts! You can view an example of the template emails, and you can find directions for moving them to your account, at the following location: http://bit.ly/13mmglC

Those of you that are fairly new to Instaproofs will not need to do anything to get the updated templates onto your account. If you signed up for your account after April 18th (three months ago), your account already has the new templates. Enjoy :)

Bounce-back Discounts

Although we announced this option several months ago on facebook and twitter, we have never made an official announcement anywhere else about it. So, here it goes! A new “bounce-back” discount type has been added to the discount codes setup area! A bounce-back discount is a discount code that is created and displayed to your clients *after* they have placed an order. It's a simple way to say “thanks for your purchase!” while at the same time encouraging them to place another order.

Here is an example of how it looks on your clients' receipts:
And here are the basics for how it works:

You setup the bounce-back discount in your administrative area

Your client places a non-zero-dollar order through your storefront

When they complete their purchase they are given a single-use 24 hour discount code, that is good for whatever amount you previously specified

After 24 hours the discount code expires and the discount can no longer be used

Every person that orders through your storefront will be given their own code, and each code is good individually for 24 hours

So go ahead and give it a shot; we think you (and your clients) will like it! :)

During these discount periods, instead of charging our normal 15% fee on storefront orders, all order fees are reduced to just 6%! To take full advantage of these discounts, add these dates to your calendar and put on a sale of your own at the same time!

Conclusion

And that's it! We hope that some of these changes will make things a little easier for you and your business, and we hope that you have a fabulous Summer!

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